Knowledge and Practice of Mothers in the Management of Children’s Diarrhea, in Northwest, Iran

Background:: Diarrhea is the most common pediatric disease. The leading cause of death from acute diarrhea is the loss of water and essential minerals, which can be compensated by oral rehydration solution (ORS). The role of mothers is vital in health promotion, disease prevention and patient care.

Objectives:: The present research aimed to investigate the knowledge and performance of the mothers of diarrheic children referring to the Children's Hospital, Tabriz, Iran.

Patients and Methods:: Predesigned questionnaires were used to collect data from the mothers of diarrheic children aged younger than 12 years, referring to the outpatient clinic of the Children's Teaching Hospital in Tabriz. Demographic information of the mother and child, mothers’ knowledge about pediatric diarrheal disease, and their performance in the case of pediatric diarrheal disease, were investigated.

Results:: A questionnaire was administered to 956 mothers, of whom 3.03%, 21.75% and 75.22% were uneducated, had a university education, high school diploma or less, respectively. Furthermore, 95.5% of the mothers referred to a doctor after the first day following an episode of diarrhea. The knowledge of 37.23%, 44.24%, and 18.53% of the mothers was poor, medium and good, respectively. Moreover, the performance of 51.98%, 30.03% and 17.99% of the mothers was poor, medium and good, respectively. A significant relationship was found between maternal education and knowledge (P = 0.000), but no relationship was observed between maternal age and knowledge (P = 0.36). There was also a direct relationship between maternal education and performance, which was significant (P = 0.001). There was no relationship found between any other variables.

Conclusions:: The knowledge and performance of the majority of mothers were medium or poor. Training programs are recommended for mothers, medical students, pediatric, internal and infectious residents, in addition, retraining programs are recommended for GPs and related specialists.